Monday, October 15th, 2007

A few weeks ago I was chatting with Brookston Holiday about his new sailing vessel, The Esprit, and mentioned how it would be a great idea to have a show for it. I brought the idea up to the estate mangers of Sailors Cove and they took off with idea like a rocket! It’s been about a year since the last great boat show in Sanchon and the sailing community in SL was long overdue for one. The below URLS will give you more details on the events planned for the show:

So what happened to East End Radio??? It all boiled down to control. Here’s the facts: I owned the computer, all the music, the DSL connection, I produced content, managed the playlist, kept the station up and running 24/7. I did EVERYTHING for the station except, pay the server cost. Somehow the Estate owner, B.C. felt she was the OWNER of East End Radio. There was a sign in the barn stating that I was the owner/operator of the station. She took exception to it and wanted it changed. I said no and it degenerated quickly from there. It ended up with her cutting me off from the stream. Funny how a few months later she lost control of it all and sold the entire estate for half price. And oh, how about Bar Harbor? A casino island, what a grand success that was. Ha Ha, but I digress….

I did have an ace up my sleeve. My station had been well received by the residents and guest of The East End and one of them stood up and volunteered to fund my station. Kevin Ludwig of Hukilau island became my new benefactor and gave my station a home in his sim. From Hukilau I spread to many more sims such as Grand Harbor, Mill Pond, Pantheon, and Fishers Island. Some sims and estates have come and gone but I am happy to report KONA is alive and well in many locations throughout Second Life.

Probably the biggest change came in June when I changed business models and went from advertising to sponsorship. This has allowed me to better comply with the rules and give the sponsors a more realistic expectations. As successful as some SL stations are we simply aren’t the powerhouses that many commercial stations are. Sponsoring us will not make your product move like hotcakes. Yes, your name will be heard but what your sponsorship actually does is keep the music alive. We SL stations provide a service and a function that no Club 977 or Martini in the Morning can ever do. We live in SL and interact with our listeners on a regular basis and share our love of music with them, avatar to avatar.